First and foremost:
Tristian was baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints! :) It has been such a gift to be a part of
her journey, which is just starting! During the 55 days since meeting
her, she has developed a relationship with Heavenly Father that wasn't
really there before, and strengthened her faith in Jesus Christ to the
point of Him being the source of real power to change and to have joy
and peace in her life. She now knows her purpose in life and her
direction has eternal perspective. Her language, thoughts, and actions
reflect her knowledge that she is a daughter of God. And she is so
happy!
Everything went smoothly, and many
members from the ward came to support Tristian. A couple of her cousins
came, too. It was a very nice, spiritual service. Tristian chose "Carry
On" as the closing hymn, which, if you know it, is a very peculiar
choice! :) She had heard it at church once and loved it! The baptism
gave a lot for Samantha to think about, too. Yes, she came to Tristian's
baptism! Last Monday we had met with her for the first time in a couple
weeks- she told us she has read the Book of Mormon almost every day and
has received a testimony of its truthfulness. We told her we'll need to
meet with her more often to help her progress towards baptism, and she
said she would try to get work off on Saturday
to be able to come to Tristian's baptism. Then, throughout the week,
she didn't respond to any of our texts or calls, so we didn't know if
she was able to come. We were worried, so on Saturday
morning we attempted to find the house her family is renovating to move
into- I had never been to her actual house (we always meet at the
library), but a couple weeks ago she took Sister Kirkham and I to see
this second house. Anywho, I tried relying on my memory to find it, but
we couldn't. Thankfully, she showed up at the baptism! Turns out her
phone had run out of minutes, so she couldn't respond to us. :)
And
it was meant to be that she couldn't! Here's the other half of the
story- when Sister Evensen and I couldn't find Sam's house Saturday
morning, we looked in the GPS to see if there was anyone nearby we
could visit, since we had drove all that way. The first heart we clicked
on was the Bosbys, a former investigator family. I had met the dad when
I first arrived in Fairhope, but we hadn't been able to get a return
appointment and had kind of forgotten about them. We knocked and the mom
Tracy answered the door, excited to see us, and told us to come back
that evening. We did; it was just us and Tracy, who told us that just
that morning she had pleaded with Heavenly Father in prayer for
guidance- we knocked on the door just hours later. She has such a strong
desire to do what God wants her to do, to find peace and joy. She clung
to everything we said and trusted us, which really made me feel the
mantel of my calling as a representative of Jesus Christ- that's what
she saw us as. At the end she prayed so sincerely. On Sunday she came to church and loved it.
Throughout
this week, I have felt so strongly how much God loves His children.
That is why He allows us to serve each other. What an incredibly joyful
privelege it is to be a missionary. What did I do to deserve to be a
part of these miracles? Of being God's small, weak instrument in helping
bring His children peace and joy, and some day home to Him? We don't
"deserve" anything- God gives us a taste of the joy that He has because
He loves us. His perfect love is His pure motivation. What is our
motivation? He wants us to serve each other, to love each other, to
become like Him by becoming like His Son Jesus Christ a little bit more
each day. Jesus Christ is our perfect example of how to return to live
with God and receive all that He has. He lives! Carry on!
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